Page 22 of Teach Me How
Could we get caught? At this point, I don’t care.
My fingers slide between our hips, and I start fumbling with his zipper.
His big hand, warm and callused, traps mine. With a raspy groan, he drags my hand away and breaks our kiss. I feel bereft. Like a fish out of water. It takes me a few beats to remember to snap my mouth shut. The look of pure regret on his face is good enough to douse the fire.
He eases me off his lap, gently setting me on the cushion before climbing to his feet. He rubs the back of his neck, looking a bit skittish. “I shouldn’t have done that. I’m so sorry, Reese.”
“What?” I’m still warring between smoldering lust and scorching embarrassment. “Why are you sorry?”
He gestures helplessly. “You’ve clearly been drinking.”
I frown, climbing to my feet. “So have you, but I’m not drunk, Skyler. If that’s what you’re insinuating.”
He tilts his head, unconvinced. “Either way, you’re clearly on the rebound and making some irrational decisions.”
“A woman wanting to own her sexuality is irrational?”
He splutters. “And the tattoo.”
“If you don’t like ink, you’re entitled to your opinion. But I like it and I don’t regret it.”
“I didn’t say I didn’t like it.”
I plant my hands on my hips. “Then what are you saying?”
“I’m saying…” He drifts off before picking up the thread again. “I’m saying that maybe you’re a little tipsy and in a vulnerable place. You shouldn’t let assholes like Tyson Kyle, or me for that matter, anywhere near you in this state.”
I take a deep breath through my nostrils, hands curling into fists at my side. “Fuck this, I’m going home.”
“You’re not driving yourself.”
I tip my jaw up.
“How much have you had to drink?”
My cheeks color. In the past hour? I was working on my third drink. I don’t want him to dismiss everything I just told him as drunken ramblings, but he may have a point about driving.
He nods, watching the thoughts play out across my face. “I’m driving you.”
I glare at him. “How much have you had to drink?”
He shakes his head, speaking as he starts up the steps. “Not nearly enough.”
14.
Skyler
Nobody thought twice about my announcement that I’m taking Reese home. Josh even gave me a grateful nod, which just makes me feel like the biggest turd. An elephant-sized turd.
Because I was just very hard for his little sister. And if good sense hadn’t prevailed, and my lizard brain had its way, I’d be balls deep in her at this moment instead of driving home in very uncomfortable silence.
Ice cold silence.
It gives me time to think. To piece apart the tangled mess in my head. Granted, her scent is filling up my truck. Sunshine and coconut and distinctly female invading the new truck smell, but it just serves to keep me on task.
She’s always struck me as petite, but right now, she’s positively microscopic. Curled up on herself, frowning out the window. I made her feel that way, by bungling that heart-to-heart, by attacking her like a slobbering caveman.
If I’m honest, her thinking is far more sophisticated than mine.